The Samsung Galaxy Tab was unveiled today at IFA in Berlin. As Samsung USA‘s Social Media Manager, I’m a bit biased about all things Samsung (and Android in general), but I’ve seen the Galaxy Tab myself and it is truly an impressive device. I’ll keep sharing my thoughts on Twitter @SamsungEsteban & @SocialNerdia, but here are links to initial reactions from around the web so you read some previews/reviews and watch some videos/photos.

Engadget: Samsung Galaxy Tab Preview
Engadget: Live from Samsung IFA 2010 press event
Android Central: Samsung Galaxy Tab photo gallery
Android Central: Samsung announces the Galaxy Tab 7-inch Android tablet
Android Central: Samsung Galaxy Tab Hands-On [Video]
CNET: Samsung Galaxy Tab Photos
CNET: Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet goes official
CNET: Samsung: Galaxy Tab has leg up on Apple iPad
Gizmodo: Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Runs Froyo, Has Flash and Measures 7-Inches
Into Mobile: Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy Tab Android – 7 inches of Android tablet goodness
Mashable: Samsung Officially Unveils Galaxy Tab
Mobile Burn Samsung launches new Galaxy Tab Android 2.2 tablet
Mobiel Review Samsung Galaxy TAB. First Look
PC Mag: Samsung Introduces Galaxy Tab
PC World: Samsung Galaxy Tab Makes Its Intriguing Debut
Phone Arena: Samsung Galaxy Tab Preview
Samsung Hub (unofficial): Galaxy Tab gets official
The Droid Guy: Samsung Galaxy Tab officially exposed to select members of the US Android/Mobile Media
The Next Web: Samsung Galaxy Tab goes official, gets mid-September european release
Twice: Samsung Galaxy Tab Targets iPad

Stay tuned to @SamsungTweets and facebook.com/samsungusa for the latest news about the Galaxy Tab in the U.S.

Disclaimer: While I am employed by Samsung, the views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Samsung.

Sarah Austin was one of the first live streaming, life-casters popularized on Justin.TV and she is the founder of Pop17, “a collaborative blogging platform and web show that covers and tracks emerging web trends and tells the stories behind what’s going in social media.” 

Sarah and I have a SXSWi 2011 Panel Proposal with Brandon Prebynski, Joel Cheesman, Christopher Kahle and Ryan Paugh. We’d really appreciate your votes and comments at http://bit.ly/howtogetajob by August 27th, 2010.

Listen to this entire 38th episode of “The Social Nerdia Show!” with Sarah Austin on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe on iTunes, stream from your phone on Stitcher, and listen to upcoming shows LIVE on blogtalkradio. Some show highlights and quotes are below. Enjoy!

Brands on Social Media

 ”When brands become a part of the community, it really feels like the brand is like your friend. You really love them, like you would a real person. In social media, they take on attributes of people because there are personalitieis behind the brand making tweets, answering questions, customer service, and establishing relationships with people, connecting with people on their interests, and offering something back to the community.” (more…)

The MTV Movie Awards are happening right now and I don’t have MTV. I’m not a big fan of most pop music and blockbuster movies, but I must say I am always curious, especially from a marketing perspective. Knowing that Stamen Design had created a very cool Twitter data visualization for the VMAs in 2009, I went to MTV.com looking to see if they had done it again. And alas, I found Tweet Tracker.

Stamen knows how to visualize the crazy stream of text and links and hashtags that is Twitter, and this time was no exception. I was soon able to see comments about how awkward Kristen Stewart was, how surprising Sandra Bullock’s appearance was, and who won what, when, and even why. My initial thought was that this new Tweet Tracker did not look as good as the VMAs one did (and I certainly missed Kanye’s big face due to all the very interesting and opinionated tweets), but the functionality of Tweet Tracker goes further by letting you dive deep into what people are really saying in one of two ways:

“Cloud”

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“My whole approach to making this film is similar to open source web development,” said Tan Siok Siok when I asked her about Twittamentary. On the most recent The Social Nerdia Show!, I had a conversation with her to talk about this unique documentary, which she referred to as a “project about Twitter using Twitter to make it happen, and the power of the real-time web.”

Listen to the entire conversation with Siok Siok on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe on iTunes, stream from mobile phones on Stitcher, and listen to upcoming LIVE shows on blogtalkradio.

Siok Siok explained that traditional filmmaking is “very secretive” because it is important to keep the idea away from anyone who could steal it. “What’s unusual about this project is that we crowdsourced it,” she told me. From ideas like a “meetup road trip” to mobilizing people to “generating leades for the shoot,” the Twitter community has made it possible for many to get personally involved. One such example happened in Denver, CO, where Siok Siok’s team was stranded at a bus station at midnight. Someone read her tweets and soonafter picked them up and let them stay with him for the night. “The film shows that Twitter works.” (more…)

Social Media is really all about this: integrating life and technology.

Facebook is the most widely used, widely known, and perhaps widely trusted social network in the world. As someone who got on Facebook when it first launched for universities (I was part of the SMU network before most people knew what Facebook was), I’ve seen Zuckerberg & Co. grow and change through the years, and one thing is for sure: Facebook has a bold and ambitious vision to become the web’s social platform.

I vividly remember having conversations in which people made fun of Facebook back when MySpace was “the social network.” I also remember making fun of Facebook myself… only to jump in a few days later and realize that social media was what I wanted to do with my life. I figured that the social web is full of visionaries and I’d rather spend my time learning from them and becoming a bit more like them (creative risk-takers with ideas that could change the world), than simply doing the whole get-a-job-to-buy-the-groceries thing. The social web was is fascinating and it’s evolving at a pace that is astounding. I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook eventually actually try to connect us to everything (like I jokingly predicted a year ago).

Anyways, if I’m right in saying that social media is about the integration of life and technology, then Facebook is really unto something.

As the Social Media Manager for Samsung Electronics, I worried a bit when the rumors about the terminology changes from “Become a Fan” to “Like” started to emerge. (more…)

I’m a big fan of visualizations. For this year’s SXSW, Pepsi came back with an updated version of their “Zeitgeist,” created by Amy Hoy and Thomas Fuchs of Slash7. I liked this year’s version much better because it included Foursquare check-ins (which everyone was doing) and it seemed to be more relevant for people that were actually there.

I wish there was a Zeitgeist for every event that ever was so hopefully there is a trend toward more visualizations. Regarless of how you feel about the Zeitgeist’s actual value, it looks cool and it makes a non-tech company look very high-tech. Well done Pepsi. Well done.

Below are a couple of videos of the displays they had at the Austin Convention Center. Note the Samsung HDTVs